Ex-Alpha's Regret: Siren's Comeback novel Chapter 51

POV: Damian

The warehouse door clicked shut, a sound of finality that plunged the muddy clearing into a deeper gloom. I remained on the ground, the cold seeping into my bones, my mind a chaotic vortex of her final look. That vast, empty indifference… it was a wound far deeper and more terrifying than any Jax's fists could inflict. The unanswered question—What else did I do?—clawed at my insides, a formless, terrifying monster whispering of sins I didn't even know I had committed.

But the monster was quickly consumed by a more familiar, more grounding sensation: rage.

The confusion, the fear, it all coalesced back into a white-hot fury that burned away the cold dread. She had fled. She had conspired with her brother. She had made a fool of me in front of my own men. Her motives were irrelevant. Her actions were a direct challenge to my authority, and that could not stand.

I staggered to my feet, spitting a mouthful of blood and mud onto the ground. Jax stood over me, a silent executioner, his eyes still burning with that cold, killing intent. He was ready to finish this, I could see it in the set of his shoulders.

"You'll never touch her again," he snarled, taking a step forward, his own power thrumming in the air.

I laughed, a harsh, broken sound that scraped my raw throat. "She is my Luna. She is mine. She belongs to Blackwood."

Just as we were about to lunge at each other again, the forest erupted. From the shadows, two dozen of my elite Blackwood guards emerged, silent and lethal, their weapons raised. They formed a perfect, suffocating circle around the warehouse, their dark uniforms blending with the twilight. The power dynamic shifted in an instant. Jax's small, covert team was hopelessly, laughably outmatched. A surge of triumphant control flooded through me, chasing away the last vestiges of fear.

She straightened her shoulders, a queen making a final, desperate choice in a battle she could not win. She walked out of the warehouse, her bare feet silent on the damp earth. She passed Jax, so close their shoulders almost brushed. For a fraction of a second, their eyes met. I couldn't decipher the look she gave him, but it was a silent, desperate plea—to endure, to wait, to grow stronger. He understood. His face became a mask of stone, his own fury banked and hidden behind a wall of pure, helpless hatred.

She didn't look at me again. She walked straight to my guards, her head held high, a prisoner returning to her cage.

They closed in around her, their formation shifting from an attack force to a guard detail, escorting their prize home.